Hasta La Gadget!

Petting zoos are fun, but they can also be kind of sketchy. Is that rabbit being attacked by too many five-year-olds? Is that goat depressed? It’s awkward. But if the tactile experience were coming from robots and AI you might really be able to enjoy yourself.

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Social media plays a big part in people’s lives these days. Not just in their personal lives, but also in what they do for a living as well. If you’re one of those people, then you might be interested in the social media-themed business card generators by Stephen Ou.

Over on SocialBusinessCard you can generate business card designs patterned after three of the largest social networks are available: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Creating your own personalized car using these designs is pretty easy. Just choose which one you want, link your actual social media account using the site’s app, and your card will be generated right after, using your digital profile as a starting point.

After editing the text on the card, you can then choose to upload the custom card design to your business card maker of your choice.

The most impressive part? Stephen just graduated high school, and already has launched several other successful online apps.

[via InStash]

Some people put out pails and bins to collect rainwater when it rains. Others, like the folks of MARS architects, put out benches. They’re very different objects, but they serve the same purpose: to collect rainwater which will be used to water plants, wash cars, hose down driveways, and so on and so forth.

So you might be wondering, how does a bench collect rainwater? Well, it’s all in the cushions. The bench MARS came up with features grooves and seams that direct the water into inlet buttons. The collected water is stored in an underground tank and in the aboveground tank (which is, essentially, the bench.)

The benches are available in three capacities: 500 liters, 1,000 liters, and 1,800 liters, each of which is recommended for certain locations to maximize their usefulness.

The smallest unit does not even require any ground work, and is best equipped for roadside installation; the medium size includes an underground tank and is well-suited for gardens and greenhouses; and the largest one is appropriate for public parks and playgrounds.

The bench came to be after MARS was commissioned by the BMW guggenheim lab to join in on the think tank’s vision to come up with innovations that would benefit cities and urban environments.

[via designboom via Likecool]

Wood-fired pizza is absolutely a slice above the 30-minutes-or-less variety that gets delivered to your door, and it’s pretty common for restaurants that employ the process to make the massive, rustic ovens the visual centerpiece of the room, so folks dining-in can see their pies emerge. Vienna-based creative collective Madame Mohr took a different aesthetic direction for a local pizzeria, turning the oversized kiln into a groovy disco ball—that freaking spins around!

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Last night, Gizmodo got a sneak peek at the new SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack due out next month. The eye-popping visuals of the relaunch were covered widely, immediately making a game as easy to discuss for its many frustrations as for its design advances, and we were thus keen to learn how Cities of Tomorrow expansion would continue or depart from the recent refresh.

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